Police Scotland Update
Argyll and Bute Council · 1 May 2024
Back to Mid Argyll, Kintyre and the Islands Area Community Planning Group — 1 May 2024 and its agenda
Text extracted from the council's PDF. Layout and reading order may differ from the original.
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OFFICIAL OFFICIAL Neighbourhood Watch Police Scotland continues to work in partnership with and promote the activity of Neighbourhood Watch. The Community Team would like to encourage all Community Councils to consider implementing a Neighbourhood Watch for their respective areas. It is a community led initiative to bring local people together to address crime and other community safety issues. Neighbourhood Watch groups often liaise with the local police, the local authority and other agencies. The concept originated in the United States and was introduced into the UK in the 1980s. Behind it lies a very simple idea; working together can help to improve your community. Neighbourhood Watches can be large, covering most of the households on an estate, or they might involve just a few houses. They may meet frequently, or keep in touch via e-mail or social media. There really is no ‘one size fits all’ approach to Neighbourhood Watch. Neighbourhood Watch adapts to fit the community it serves. Quite simply it’s “Your Watch, Your Way.” 3 PDF leaflets have been included within the pack, which show you who to contact to develop this further. Management Changes We are pleased to announce that Sector & Communities Insp, Lee Page, has been temporarily promoted to Chief Insp for Culture & Change within L Division. As such we welcome Insp Karen MacLennan into this vacated post, bringing with her PC Eilidh Ann Dewar, who will join Sgt Matt Shaw. This positive move increases the team size and provides more resilience to be responsive to the needs of our community. Chief Insp Simon Shanks is continuing as the Area Command for OLI & MAKI. Easter Demand Police Scotland continues to monitor demand and incidents caused by youth activity, especially in the Easter Break. Areas in OLI and MAKI have been subject to bespoke Youth Plans, whereby officers and stations are provided with set areas to patrol, issues to watch out for and prevent as well as bespoke engagement strategies. The goal is to ensure that our communities are not only safe, but feel safe, whilst seeking to engage youths in a way that helps to educate and redirect them to positive activities rather than criminalise. On occasion communities may see temporary CCTV deployed to evidentially help support officers in dealing with these matters. On such occasions Police work closely with the Council to ensure any deployments are proportionate and compliant with Data Protection principles and Human Rights obligations. Lifelines Scotland Is a national NHS project, hosted by the Rivers Centre in NHS Lothian, working with government, statutory, voluntary and charitable partners to support the wellbeing of the emergency service staff and volunteers in Scotland. Police Scotland has committed to training all its officers in elements of this initiative, to provide guidance on: Staying Well – Understanding Resilience and Self-Care, Supporting your Colleagues/Team. Some officers are trained to a heighted degree in Post Trauma Support and providing Psychological First Aid. The benefits of this cannot be understated. In protecting the mental health and wellbeing of our staff we help to ensure they are better prepared for the rigours of the job, protecting them from burnout and helping them maintain that sense of balance and welfare that will permit better service to the public that we serve. More than this, it permits peer support and early intervention, to prevent staff reaching the stage where more developed help is required.
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OFFICIAL OFFICIAL All Scottish emergency services are embracing this project and are looking to build it into their normal working processes.